Google has taken a small step for online document sharing, but a giant leap for people who like to share with the introduction of shared folders in Google Docs.

The feature, as the name suggests, will allow users to share folders with other users on Google Docs. The shared folders mean that documents will no longer have to be manually shared, with users able to set up shared folders for collaborative, ongoing sharing.

Folders can be shared on an edit or view only access, giving a level of control currently available through single document sharing.

Google has also announced support for uploading multiple files, which it pitches as “simplifying the process of transferring documents from your desktop to the cloud.”

Access to the features should be available to all Google Docs users by the end of October 12 US time.

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Microsoft is finally putting useless and cumbersome Microsoft Works out of its misery. In other news, Microsoft was still making Microsoft Works.

In lieu of a frustrating and pointless version of Works, PC users can look forward to a stripped-down and ad-supported Office Starter 2010. The suite will include Word and Excel, dropping PowerPoint and OneNote for users who haven’t upgraded to the pay version. All the necessary bits for Home & Student, Home & Business or Professional versions will be installed with Office Starter, and can be unlocked with the purchase of a “key” or an activation card in electronics stores.

Takeshi Numoto, corporate VP for Office, declined to disclose whether Office Starter users would receive pricing incentives to shell out for pay versions of the software. Numoto feels that the new purchase options will reach new users who may have never been in front of a computer used Microsoft Office:

“This is a way for us to reach a lot of customers that we haven’t reached before,” Numoto said, explaining Microsoft’s strategy behind Office Starter, Click-To-Run and the new card-based licenses to be sold at retail. “This will get people a taste for Office, people who may not have been exposed to Office before.”

Scanning over the quotes from Microsoft execs just makes highlights the fact that so much functionality is available in open source versions of similar software. Google Docs and OpenOffice have some limitations-mainly when working with someone using MS Office-but deliberate reduced functionality and high cost aren’t among them. Aside from necessary collaboration with Office users, do you have any compelling reasons to keep paying for it?

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Online office platform provider Zoho has released Zoho Writer 2.0, with a makeover that makes it more Microsoft Word like.

The new interface includes was Zoho calls the “MenuTab.” The MenuTab interface categorizes features as tabs based on functionality, include Format, Insert, Review and more. The tabs are used as Menus, quite purposely in a way reminiscent of the Ribbon bar in Microsoft Word 2007.

The sidebar has also had a makeover, with the ability to multi-select documents and perform actions.

The aim of the game in online office packages has always been appealing to existing software users to switch across, and delivering interfaces that are familiar is key to that. A decent upgrade for what was already a smart service.

More details on the Zoho blog here.

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At some point there was one thing that really started to get on my nerves. Google stuff began to remind me of the pablum I feed my two girls when they were babies. It does the job but damn its boring shit. Really .. just how much of that pale pastel blue crap can one person stomach in a day. Jeez give me break already.

Here we have machine that literally dwarf the mega machines that powered the Apollo Moon program and the best we can come up with for style is some utilitarian blandness to wrap our applications or web apps in – come on already. I’ve seen mortuaries with more friggin life in them than these Google offering and why should we be settling for this utilitarian sameness? Have we lost that interest in having the things we use on a daily basis that we don’t care if they look boring as hell?

Personally I am so sick and tired of that color blue that it wants to make me puke every time I see it. I told my wife when she gets around to redecorating that picking that colour would be grounds for divorce. So without the slightest bit of reluctance I have returned to my previous selection of programs I used even thought they might be a little heavier on resources it’s worth it to have some life back in my desktop.

The other thing that really makes me laugh is that Google apps are so popular among the Mac crowd. This is the bunch with deep roots in the artistic and style community and yet this idea of blandness is so acceptable to them. Talk about a total dichotomy.

Oh and by the way labels in Gmail isn’t all the snitz that the Gmail fanbois make them out to be.

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Users can now upload, view, and share PDF files within the program — something that had not previously been available. While you can copy and paste text, there is not any option to edit the files.

Google does, however, make use of the word “yet” in reference to an editing option, which might suggest that it will be added before long.

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